Tom's Journal - July 11 - July 17
Talkeetna, Anchorage, and Kenai
A Somewhat Dull Week
Well, after a great week at Denali, we headed down to Anchorage with a stop at Talkeetna for a night. Anchorage was rather disappointing for sightseeing. Anchorage boasts about 45 percent of Alaska's population. I guess it has nothing else to boast about. Then again, people from Anchorage ask "what’s so great about Sacramento?" Okay, we do have all of the Gold Rush and Old Sacramento stuff that Anchorage wished it had but doesn't. And while Juneau is the capital of Alaska, all of the state and federal offices are actually in Anchorage. Anchorage just felt like a typical large town and we even got stuck in some rush hour traffic at 5:30 PM. Anchorage was not a highlight of our trip.
Oh well, we did have some time to get caught up, clean, and plan for the next week.
The map below shows our route south; 1-Denali, 2-Talkeetna, 3-Anchorage, 4-Kenai, and 5-Homer
Day 35 (Sunday, July 12)
We left Denali National Park with a tear in our eyes. I SHALL RETURN! We drove south towards Anchorage with our night's stop at Talkeetna (Tal-keet-na). Unaware, we caught the tailend of the Moose Dropping Festival. Talkeetna is normally a rather small town that is a staging area for climbers heading to Mt McKinley. They fly from Talkeetna to the base camps.
Why anyone would have a festival about moose droppings, I have no idea and still don't. Hundreds (a thousand or more?) come from all over to this festival. Well, if you don't have an international tourist attraction like Old Sacramento or a prison like Folsom then I guess you better celebrate moose droppings. Anyways, all of the streets (okay both of them) were closed to traffic and typical festival booths were set up with food, gifts (junk), and local wares. On the outskirts of town, half a stones through from downtown, we had some pre-dinner entertainment as three non-locals were dragging off one of their friends who it appeared had gotten into a fight and didn't do as well as the other guy. One of the three guys prevented an ambulance and EMT from getting to him by standing in front of the ambulance and then sticking his foot under the front wheel of the ambulance and arguing with the EMT while the other two dragged off the friend. Okay, enough with the entertainment, we ate pizza.
Talkeetna is a popular stop between Denali and Anchorage, however the festival did obscure the normal quaint Alaska town atmosphere. We never did see a moose there and I tried to not step in any droppings.
Day 36 (Monday, July 13)
We drove on down to Anchorage, checked into the RV Park, and went downtown to the visitors center to see some displays and watch some interesting films; oh yah, gift shops.
The Anchorage skyline
Day 37 (Tuesday, July 14)
Laundry, clean trailer, fix a few things, oil change for the truck, food shopping and CostCo!
Day 38 (Wednesday, July 15)
We explored Earthquake Park (memorial to Good Friday Earthquake, March 27, 1964, 9.2 on Richter Scale), took a short hike on the beach, and watched huge UPS and FedEx planes take off overhead (the beach is at the end of the runway and those planes are LOUD).
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Day 39 (Thursday, July 16)
Blah, blah, blah, the Alaska Native Heritage Center, blah, blah, blah.
Story teller using string at Alaska Native Heritage Center
Day 40 (Friday, July 17)
Okay, stick a fork in me, I'm done, time to leave Anchorage.
View along the road to Kenai
Okay, its Friday and I guess everyone is tired of Anchorage because they are all driving to Kenai the same as we are. I had trouble Thursday evening lining up an RV park for Friday but found one near by in Soldotna that wound up being a good choice. People like to leave Anchorage on the weekends (I don't blame them) and head to the Kenai Peninsula for the weekend. What we didn't realize was this was the week that the Salmon were running up the Kenai river and the banks of the river are packed shoulder to shoulder with fisher-people. And I thought the Moose Dropping thing drew a crowd. We stopped by the Kenai Visitor Center and took a short walking tour that included a stop at an historic old Russian Orthodox church before having a traditional Alaskan dinner at Carl's Jr.
Fisherman fishing for Red Salmon along the Kenai River
One of many fishing areas along the mouth of the Kenai River during the Red Salmon run
Day 41 (Saturday, July 18)
Onward to Homer at the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula to begin exploring the Alaskan coastal region.